Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Fly Fishing Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Home Waters

Your home waters

Current Favorite Fly

If you only had one... (change anytime)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Rate Thread

If you like, you can add a score for this thread.

Topic Review (Newest First)

01-21-2002 10:22 PM

spey_bubba

i have had the opportunity to cast quite a few spey rods and two handers, and own too many...

the T&T's are on the faster side, but not what i would call fast like an XP. (the 14' 9 weight is delightful).

about the "fastest" two handers i have thrown are the Scott Alpha series (SAS) two handers. originally designed for the european market throwing short shooting heads, these rods are very fast; so much so that traditional long line spey casting is quite difficult. they are quite a bit less expensive than the scott ARC series (flagship) spey rods.

01-21-2002 06:08 PM

lastcaststeve

Dear Ryan,

I have to agree with you on the 11' sage xp 6wt...Mr. Jerry Siem was kind enough to send me a demo rod to play with for a couple weeks. I haven't used it yet as a 2 hander, but you can throw close to a 100' with the smallest triangle taper spey line with single handed spey casts...I'm sure it would also be an exceptional small double hander...

Have fun

Steve

01-21-2002 02:08 AM

NrthFrk16

Sage makes a 6# 11'er in the XP which is one Hell of a fast rod. Build an extended butt section and whalla, now you got a super fast two-hander.

Well, sorta...

01-21-2002 01:46 AM

Scott K

I guess my comment was a bit of tongue in cheek....

01-20-2002 06:42 PM

fish-head

Scott , what would be the point of doing that with a 11 or 12 wt. Wouldn't that take some of the fun out casting , I have never tried this but wouldn't it be a little tuff to mend your line and control your fly ? Fish-Head

01-20-2002 06:04 AM

Scott K

I guess you could always buy an 11 or 12 wt Euro/Fast action club and underload it with a 6 or 7 weight line and then you'll really feely like you have a fast action rod now won't you?

This is one issue I think you could look at, is growing out of rods? Do people really grow out of rods (spey rods), or would it make sense to move down a line weight to see how well you can time the lighter loading line and when you can time that better, you could probably cast farther (in theory), is this not correct??

Scott

01-04-2002 12:55 PM

Adrian

Not quite THAT old Fred

I was lucky enough to know a chap called George Aitken who lived close to the River Tweed in Scotland. In his earlier years he was a champion salmon fly caster and had an awesome collection of old cane and green hart rods. He also had a collection of hand-built lines. I had trouble lifting some of the bigger ones in my late 20s! Sadly he passed away several years ago and I never knew what became of all that wondeful gear.

01-04-2002 12:10 PM

fredaevans

Adrian, you must be 'older than you look.'

Wow, I can tell you were 'exposed' to the old greenhearts if you remember having to go through the wrapping process. My first experience (raised in BC) with 2 handers was from an old Scot with a greenheart something like 17'ish feet long. When you're 12-13, the difference between 17 and 18 foot is zip; IT'S JUST ONE HECK OF A BIIIGGGGG ROD.

Anyway, that was job one, job two was to 'grease' the silk line, job three was to get control of the beast. Life was pretty good back then in central BC.
fe

01-04-2002 10:54 AM

Adrian

Not sure about those particular rods but we always taped the ferules prior to a lengthy sessions of spey casting. The mechanics of the cast tends to put a twisting moment into the blank and the ferules can work loose. If you don't notice it at the time, the result can be a broken ferule.

The old greenhart and cane spey rod blanks were cut into sections at an acute angle instead of using ferules. The sections, which matched perfectly, would then be bound together using a leather tape prior to fishing.

01-04-2002 10:43 AM

fish-head

I had a 15' 10wt. Powell a couple of years ago , with a Rio accel on it . I felt the rod was to soft for me , felt very wimpy , maybe it was to much line for this rod ? Then I found out that it was a Loomis Blank . I don't know what lenght I am looking at , I am not to pleased with Sage's ferule's now on my single hander's . Not sure if they are having the same problem's on the 2 handers , but this is 2002 , I do think they can fix the ferule problem's now instead of using wax or tape ? Fish-head

01-04-2002 10:37 AM

Eric

Clarification

Hey, fellas,

My understanding is that the long rods are called "double handers" and they come in a variety of actions, "Spey" being one of them. Juro does an excellent job of describing the Spey rod essence.

Other double handers, the fast tapers, are designed to throw shooting heads, and fly-shops are now calling these "Euro-actions" (Spey not being in the Euro community, I guess).

Somehow all double handers have come to be referred to as Spey rods, and this is leading to all sorts of confusion.

Happy New Year

01-04-2002 10:23 AM

juro

I'm sure someone with more expertise will chime in but here's my .02... single handed casting preferences don't apply to Spey casting, or at least very little.

A good Spey rod carries the energy with a little cushion of delay followed by a strong recoil to throw the d-loops into position for the next move. Of course the line style you use affects the rod preference - for instance fishing floating double tapers verses compact Spey heads. But for the most part the trick is to get a rod that really loads up and really unloads too. Too soft and it won't recoil; too stiff and it won't load in the same cadence as the long drawn out motions of the Spey cast. You move a lot of line around with these simple but effective Spey motions.

If I may make this suggestion, cast as many rods as you can, get opinions from the great people here and on Dana's site, and make an informed decision based on experience.

.02

01-04-2002 09:08 AM

Eddie

Neither of my T&T rods are especially "fast", but they are well suited to both traditional and euro style casting. I have cast the 13' #8 Reddington DFR, and I have to say that it is very good.

01-04-2002 04:44 AM

fredaevans

First I'd say you're looking for a Euro style of blank

If you want to try the Loomis it's a Euro, an 8wt and the one I just leave loaded with a sink tip. 99% of the time it's in the car with me so if I see you this weekend give it a go.

Another one to consider is the Redington. A little on the 'shortish side' at 13' but this one may also fill your requirements.

01-03-2002 11:03 PM

fish-head

Fred , fast action . Like my xp's in single hander's . I want something that is a club . Have heard that the T & T,s are supposed to be fast . But I don't know if anybody has them out here . But I did here that Burkhiemer is back at it ,Or still in the game ? Wanting to use my little 1 for waker's .What do think of the Mid-spey with all the tips ? Going to start swinging a fly , imagine that ?Not sure what lenght I am after yet though . I don't want anything bigger than an 8 wt. though .Just want a steelhead rod that will handle sink tips to floater's . Any thought's ,Fish-head

This thread has more than 15 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.